Study the information about modals that express habits.
1. Used to is a simple past form only. If you want to say ‘I am in the habit of’, you must use the simple present.
I get up early every day.
2. We often use do and did + use to form questions and negatives:
Did you use to play sports?
We also use never to form the negative: I never used to play sports.
3. We can use used to when we refer to past habit.
I used to collect stamps.
4. We can take used to when we want to make a contrast between past and present with expressions ‘but now…’, ‘but not any more’, ‘but not any longer’.
I used to eat a large breakfast, but I don’t any longer.
5. Used to can also refer to past states.
She used to very polite.
6. When we are ‘remembering the past’, we can use ‘would’ in place of used to.
First we set the scene with used to, then we continue with would.
When I was a boy we always spent/used to spend our holidays on a farm.
We would get up at 5 and we’d help milk the cows.